Refrigerating apparatus



June 17, 1941 c. J.. GIBSON ETAL 21,330

' HEFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed Dec. 16, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 #0622757; gimr/e gfiaorzd e720" 0a or j j ja June 1941- c. J. GIBSON EI'AL Re. 21,830

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS I v Original Filed Dec. 16, 1937 2 Sheets-.-She t 2 -r a M 7/ 4g 5 a 62500736? kferffi 'j7 0z450 Reisaued June 17, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Charles J. Gibson, Greenville, and Jens Touborg, Tecumseh, Mich-., assignors to Gibson Electric Refrigerator Corporation, Greenville, Mich., a

corporation of Michigan Original No. 2,158,718 dated May 16, 1939, Serial No. 180,248, December 16, 1937. reissue June 7, 1940, Serial No. 339,406

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in refrigerating apparatusand more especially to such Application for.

apparatus of the portable type particularly.

adapted for domestic use.

Among the features of our invention is the provision of an evaporator in the form of a flat imperforate shelf located near the top of the cooling chamber, the shelf having substantially the same size and shape of a horizontal crosssection of th chamber itself. We have found that by this construction we are able to provide a space, above the shelf for the accommodation of ice trays on the shelf and at the same time cool the compartment below the shelf.

Another feature of our invention is' improved defrosting apparatus especially adapted for, catching drippa e from a flat type evaporator whether said evaporator is in the form of a shelf or ,not. Our improved defrosting apparatus can be used in connection with any horizontal, flat Fig. 5 is a view taken;

or plate type evaporator and even in connection with a construction wher the ceiling of the storage or food compartment is itself chilled in order,

' to form the evaporator or cooling unit for the refrigerator. In all evaporators or cooling units of this type which are relatively flat and larg in' area, difliculty has been encounter'ed in catching the drippage therefrom especially during defrosting operations. Our invention contemplates primarily a drip baflle of relatively large area below such an evaporator or cooling unit and above the top-most foodshel f. This baflie is provided with means for directing the-drippage falling thereon to a certain-point from which it is discharged througha suitable opening orspout below which is placed a relatively tall, deep drip the evaporator in order to prevent objectionable sweating and dripping. To further overcome this disadvantage, therefore, it is another feature of ourinvention to provide a plurality, for example, twodrip bailies. Accordingly, we have shown our invention in the drawings in. this form. One baflle may be mounted, forexa'mple, about two inches below the evaporator and tends itself to frostand drip. Th drippage from it, however, is caught by the second baflie which needs to be only an inch or so beneath it. There is thus provided an apparatus which operates entirely satisfactorily as defrosting apparatus and at the of our invention shown in the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a refrigerator; Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the evaporator and drip baflies taken as indicated by the line 2 ofFig. 3; Fig. 3 is a view taken as indicated by the line 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of one ofthe drip baflles; and

as indicated by the line 5 of Fig. 4. a

As shown in the drawings, l0 indicates the usual food compartment of a refrigerator which may be of any conventional type adapted for mechanical cooling,v H, II indicate the usual shelves in the compartment for supporting food. In the refrigerating apparatus here shown, we have disclosed an evaporator of the flat or sheet type and have here shown the same embodied in an evaporator of such type serving also as a shelf, for example, similar to the evaporator shown in Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13 of Touborg and Rosebrook Patent 2,009,910 issued July 30, 1935. Since the details of the construction and operation of such an evaporator are fully disclosed in that patent,

it' is unnecessary that they be repeated here.

The evaporator in general in the form of a flat shelf we have indicated by the reference numeral l2, and the cooling boilers thereunder by the reference numeral l3. We shall use the number $2 to indicate the evaporator in general, v it being understood that in the practice of this invention we may'employ any evaporator of the flat type lying substantially in a horizontal plane. Such an evaporator may be in the form of a shelf as shown or-it could be in the form of a flat plate nearer the ceiling or roof of the food compartment, or the flat ceiling or top of the food compartment itself could constitute a part of the evaporator or cooling unit.

Under the evaporator I! are placed upper and lower drip baflles I5 and Iii respectively, each I. being-substantially the same size and shape as the plate i 2 but preferably slightly larger so that any drip from the plate I 2 or the boilers l3 will be caught by the upper baflle. The two bailies are provided with central openingsgii and it respectively, surrounded by upwardly turned rims ll andJi' respectively, about Y high. The

' bailles II and I! are preferably dished downwardly somewhat toward the central openings as shown; and the peripheries of the plates are'also turned upwardly! usform narrow upstanding flanges I! and IS. The baiiles are supported from the walls of the cabinet on suitable pins .or brackets l1, l1. I

Above the openings ll, IS the shelf I2 carries substantially the same as sectional area of the entire food compartment. With such a large flat evaporatonaccording to the old method of catching the melting frost, a

on its underside abaflle 2|) like a. gable roof in the form of an inverted V so that any water that may drip from the underside of the shelf i2 or I theboilers II in the center will not fall throug the'openings l8, it in the baflie's.

Any drippage that may occur from the baifle II because of defrosting, or sweating',- or otherwise, will be caughtby the bailie i5". p A pan-shapedbaflie tends to' obstruct the recirculaticnof air-between the evaporator surface and-thefood compartment to such anextent that the baille itself tends to become cold enough to frost and sweat and cause a certain amount of '25 drippage. We have overcome this objectionable tendency by two separate and distinct features. The first is the provision of means in the .bailleii-to permit some circulationof air through it,

' such means being here shown as a'central opening It. This provides a drip baiile which does not so seriously interfere with the circulation of air between the evaporator and food compartment as would be the case if the baille were'absolutely imperforate. There may be one relatively large 'openingas shown or a. plurality of smaller open- .dngs, so shaped and spaced to permit a regulated amount of air circulation through the baflies.

1 Even with such means to permit circulation ofair. the battle would have to be somedistancebelow the evaporator if a single baflle were used. In

order to permit placing the bailie somewhat closer hto the evaporator we provide the second distinct and separate improvement of employing a second drip baiiie li 'below the upper baffle l5. Consequently any drippage from the upper baflie i5 is caught by. the lower baille i5. With this con-.

the water from the meltingfrost and ice on the evaporator. Heretofore' it has been customary to provides tray under the evaporator to catch the waterduring the defrosting operation. ,The tray ordinarily has been large enough to catch water dripping from any part of the evaporator; and" it has been customary to place the tray on the '.uppermost food shelf under the evaporator. This construction was -fairly satisfactory in cases ing or spout.

dished and described in the earlier part of the large tray would be required. That is, the tray would have to have an area substantially equal to the entire area of the upper food shelf. It

will be seen. therefore, that such a tray standing on the shelf would greatly restrict the food stor age capacity of the refrigerator.

The horizontal flat type evaporator has distinct advantages over the older types. For example, as hereshown it can serve as a shelf for the support of ice trays or food, thereby rendering possible a more eiiicientutilization of space 7 within the refrigerator for the storage of food, and also, providing a relatively larger freezing .surface, greater conveniencefor the freezing or chilling of certain foods, and an improvement in the appearance of the interior of the refrigerator.

As stated before, such a horizontal type evaporator may also serve as a ceiling of the food compartment or as a flat plate at or near the ceiling, thereby to render possible more efllcient utilization of space within the refrigerator for the storage of food and an improvement in the appearance of the interior of the refrigerator.

By the use. of our invention, a horizontal flat .type evaporator can be employed and. the water from melting frost caught in a receptacle that 'occupies only a'very small portion of the area of the upper shelf. This is accomplishedby providing one or more relatively large flat baiiles, as hereshown, which are suitably dished and provided with rims so that these bailles will direct the water falling thereon to one point where the baiile is provided with a. suitable discharge open- As here shown, the baflles are specification and the two baiiles are provided at the corners with" the sumps 2| and 2i respec-- tively, said sumps being provided with drainage openings Hand l2 respectively, 7

Thebaffles are also provided with smaller or auxiliary sumps 23 and 23 respectively, separated from the main slunps by dams 24 and II respectively. We shall now describe the purpose of these auxiliary sumps. The baille next to the evaporator frosts to a certain extent and tendsjto defrost and drip just a trifle on the off-cycle when the control is on the warm setting. If it were not for the auxiliary sump, it wouldbe nec-} essary to keep the drip receptacle, to be hereinafter described, in place all the time because of where the evaporator surface was predominantly vertical so that the area of ahorizontal proiection of theevaporator was relatively small. In

' such cases-thetray did not need to be very large in area and consequently did not occupyan un desirable amount ofshelf space. There has been developed, however, a type of evaporator having a. relatively large horizontal surface area that has recently come into morespopular use. For example, as here shown, e evaporator includes a relatively large flat'horizontal plate i2 here shown in the form aiiat shelf having an area 'these few drops of drippage from the upper baiile on every off-cycle. The auxiliary sump, however, 7 is large enough to hold this small amount of oficycle drippage until the next'on-cycle at which time it evaporates and returns to frost on the evaporator, thus rendering it possible to movethe drip receptacle,.to be hereinafter described,

and use the refrigerator without it until the defrosting of the entire evaporator.

25 indicates a drip receptacle preferably made of glass resting on the upper food shelf II and located just below the discharge opening 22- m the lower baille. This receptacle is made relatively tall anddeep witha relatively small cross sectional area. Being removably located on the upper shelf it is easily accessible'for cleaning and emptying purposes; Being relatively small/in cross-sectional area, it occupies only'a small portion of'the shelf Tlfthus making a major part\ go: the shelf available for storage of foodand other articles tobe kept cool. Y

the horizontal cross- I While we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims, in which it is our intention as broadly as permissible, in view of the prior-art.

We claim:

1. In combination with a refrigerator having a food compartment: a horizontal surface type evaporator in the food compartment, said evaporator including an element in the form of a flat tion to claim all novelty inherent in our invenhorizontally disposed plate forming a shelf in the v opening. a

2. Apparatus as claimed in'claim 1 in which the drip baflle is relatively close to the evaporator compared to its distance from the food shelf.

3. Refrigerating apparatus, including: an evaporator; and a drip baille below the evaporator, said drip baflle having a main sump with a discharge opening therein and an auxiliary sump separated from the main sump by a dam.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 having a plurality of drip bailles (including the one specilied in claim 1) above the food shelf and below the evaporator, the lowermost drip baflie adapted to catch water dripping from the baille or baflles above it and provided with said discharge opening. r

5. In combination with a refrigerator having a food compartment: 9. horizontal surface type evaporator in the food compartment, said evaporator including an element in the form of a flat horizontally disposed plate forming a shelf in the food compartment, said plate having subsupported on saidfood shelf under said discharge I stantially the same cross-sectional area as the horizontal cross-sectional area of the food compartment;- a food shelf below the evaporator; a drip baflle above the food shelf and below the evaporator, said drip baille extending generally inparallelism with said late and having a discharge opening; and a relatively tall deep drip receptacle with a relatively small cross s'ectional area adapted to receive water discharged from the discharge opening in the drip bailie.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in which the drip battle has an opening to permit circulation of air therethrough.

7. In combination with a refrigerator having a food compartment: an evaporator having a horizontally disposed portion forming a shelf in the food compartment, the horizontal area of the evaporator being substantially the same as the horizontal cross-sectional area of the food compartment; a food shelf below the evaporator;

- and a drip bame arrangement above the food shelf and below but quite near the evaporator, the battle arrangement extending generally in parallelism with the portion forming said firstmentioned shelf having an area larger than that of the evaporator and being constructed to cause the condensate dripping from the evaporator to be concentrated at one point and having a discharge opening at said point, the arrangement comprising drip bailies superimposed one over the other and so separated asrto prevent any substantial transfer of heat therebetween.

8. Apparatus of the chairacter claimed in claim 7, wherein the baffle arrangement comprises upper and lower metal sheets arranged in close juxtaposition, but having an airspace therebetween. v v 9. Apparatus of. the character claimed in claim 7, wherein at least the lower baille has upwardly extending flanges at the outer edges thereof.

10. Apparatus of the character claimed in claim '7, wherein the baflle arrangement doesnot extend completely to the side walls of the food compartment and has a large central opening,

whereby good circulation of air between the 

